Circumcision pre-dates recorded history. Egyptian mummies and wall carvings record the practice of circumcision over 4000 years ago [8]. Along with Columbus' `discovery' of North America he noted that many of the natives there were circumcised [118]. In fact, as mentioned earlier, circumcision is seen in diverse people all over the world, ranging from African, Middle Eastern, groupings of Asian, Australian aboriginal, Pacific Islander and native American, both North and South. Whether this indicates a very ancient origin that was part of human practice as our species colonized the globe, or whether it arose independently in different regions of the world will probably never be known. There is evidence to suggest that hygiene may be one reason, as appears to be the case for elite classes in ancient Egypt and the Aztec peoples [290]. Ritualistic circumcision has been practiced in West Africa for more than 5000 years and in the Middle East for over 3000 years [234, 373].
Wiswell looked at the complication rates of having or not having circumcision performed in a study of 136,000 boys born in US army hospitals between 1980 and 1985. 100,000 were circumcised and 193 (0.19%) had complications, mostly minor, with no deaths, but of the 36,000 who were not circumcised the problems were more than ten-times higher and there were 2 deaths [397]. A study by others found that of the 11,000 circumcisions performed at New York's Sloane Hospital in 1989, only 6 led to complications, none of which were fatal [301]. An early survey saw only one death amongst 566,483 baby boys circumcised in New York between 1939 and 1951 [240]. (There are no deaths today from medical circumcisions in developed countries.)
It is better to be circumsised, disregarding religious reasons, just ethically. It is considered more pure but hey, if you weren't when you were younger then i guess its not your fault.
